By Raul Hernandez
Notebookventura@gmail.com
This poem is for my father, Juan Hernandez, my surrogate dad, Ignacio Medina and other veterans on this Veterans Day.
Many died on the beaches at Normandy, in the freezing cold in Korea, the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam, the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan and other places like Iwo Jima, the Battle of the Bulge, Pork Chop Hill, Fallujah and Hamburger Hill
Although many vets are gone, their memories linger and are still sweet.
My father fought in three wars – World War II, Korea and two tours in Vietnam. He was awarded a Bronze Star. Mr. Medina also served in three wars – World War II, Korea and three tours in Vietnam.
Both served with the U.S. Army and are buried in Fort Bliss National Cemetery in El Paso.
Mr. Medina held the highest rank in the U.S. Army — command-sergeant-major at Fort Bliss. He was awarded the Silver Star for bravery in Vietnam.
My father once told me : “This country doesn’t owe you anything. It has given us so much.” He was an orphan who was raised by an elderly aunt, and the Army was his second family.
Mr. Medina was my best friend Art’s father and the uncle of my other friend David Andrade. I always said Mr. Medina epitomized Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore the actor Robert Duval’s character in the movie “Apocalypse Now” who said: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
Mr. Medina always gave us good advice and got the three of us out of many jams.
Once, he towed my red Cougar with a chain across the International Border from Juarez to El Paso after the car caught fire at 2 a.m. in Juarez. I remember declaring my citizenship to enter the country the next day from inside my burned Cougar with a hangover after I was approached by a U.S. Customs agent.
“You, Art and David are bullsh..ters who can’t keep your stories straight? Worse is that you idiots think I’m stupid” he’d often say.
Mr. Medina shook his head and grumbled a lot but we knew that he loved his idiots.
So many veterans, so long ago and yet, so many wonderful memories left behind that still smell like roses and make us smile when we pull them up.
My Poem
I wrote this poem years ago after I read about this battle. It’s about the lingering pain and suffering that war inflicts on people.
The World War I Battle of Verdun in France is considered by historians as the longest and costliest battle in history. The battle between the French and the Germans began on Feb. 21, 1916 and ended on Dec. 16, 1916.
There were more than 700,000 dead, wounded or missing during the fighting that happened within a six-mile-square area.
Military historians argue that there was no justification for these atrocities.
The poem, which has never been published, is for my “Pops,” Mr. Medina and other vets who sacrificed so much while serving their country with pride, honor and heroism.
Verdun
By Raul Hernandez
The cannons are silent at Verdun.
Wind swept memories still bend the flowers, and tattered armies sleep forever in frozen graves where empires of sand were built by barb-wire historians who felt the wounds and heard the screams of charcoal-face warriors long after the victors had gone home
And the poets still reminisce beside the cobblestone fireplaces. Lovers laugh, talk of Spring and better days to be.
Back-porch autumn afternoons.
As the guns of Verdun subside, no one hears the moans of distant battlefields expect the ghosts of mothers wondering aimlessly along the white-washed markers searching for the lambs who were sacrificed so that mankind might know how to measure its madness.
(Photos: Vietnam War Memorial Fund and the U.S. Marines)